Skyfall

Lead Actor: Daniel Craig

Expectations of a Bond film:

1) catchphrase: shaken not stirred

2) a shootout

3) a car chase

4) a casino

5) a bond girl

6) an aston martin

7) a villain

8) a mission 

9) a crime

10) murders

11) secret service

12) gadgets

What genre is Skyfall? - hybrid genre - when a film borrows from a range of different genres - a high concept blockbuster film - more people can understand it

Genre: a thriller?

Subgenre: a spy film?

Cycle/Franchise: a bond film, 23 films already

Hybridity: an action film?

When analysing genre there are 5 areas to identify:

1) setting

2) character

3) narrative

4) iconography

5) style

James Bond indentifying the genre:

1) setting -> london or a famous city, underground, held captive, casino, a sea, a remote location

2) character -> bond girl, the helper, foreign spies, James Bond, the boss

3) narrative -> at the beginning-everything is ok, middle-there is an interuption, end-solving the problem

Todorov:

narrative structures:

5 stages to a narrative/story:

1) equilibrium- everything is ok/normal

2) disequilibrium- something goes wrong

3) acknowledgement- main character acknowledges something has gone wrong a looks to make it better

4) resolution- the main character with help tries to fix the problem

5) new equilibrium- everything back to normal- except with a slight alteration as the journey has changed everyone a little

Vladimir Propp:

7 different types of character in anything:

1) hero 

2) princess

3) villain

4) helper

5) donor

6) false hero

7) father figure

Identifying the characters of James Bond:

1) hero = Bond

2) princess = Bond Girl

3) villain = Javier Bardem

4) helper = Naomi Harris/Ralph Fiennes/Scottish housekeeper

5) donor = Q

6) false hero = n/a

7) father figure =M

Barthes - Binary Opposition:

In order to show one character you need to show the opposite:

-good vs bad

-tall vs short

-strong vs weak

Character Types:	Narrative:	Themes of action thrillers:
James Bond - the hero	the film starts with a disruption	chase sequence
Greg Kinnear - the donor	no equilibrium	shooting
M - father figure	hero chasing villain	mission
Naomi Harris - helper	camera time	car crash/car chase
Billy Ray - villain	darkness vs light	murder
		death
		guns
		list creates an enigma that needs to be solved
		loud sounds/action
		fast pace music to introduce the chase

The film clip starts with bond walking into a dark and dusty room, there is a man sitting in a chair with blood soaking through his shirt, bond then gets a communication from his boss which is when the camera changes shot to the headquarters of his boss, he then attempts to help the dying man in the chair which shows his compassion for others but he is persuaded by his boss to chase his target, he ends up being picked up by another agent and it turns into a car chase, there are then lots of quick cuts by the camera between both locations, the offices and the car chase which is a change of scene from dark and gloomy to bright and colourful, once the car chase gets into full swing there are lots of quick cuts made by the camera, the car crashing into things shows a chase sequence taking place,  there is non-digetic sound in the car but not in the office, the camera also uses eyeliner match in order to show the direction that the scene is taking, in the end of the clip bond gets onto a otorbike after a shooting sequence where bond has a medium close up to show his determination and when his fellow agent gets into the car a pushes out the windshield and there is a medium close up which shows her expression and determination.